Mechanical and thermal reinforcement of photocrosslinked salecan composite hydrogel incorporating niobium carbide nanoparticles for cell adhesion

Salecan, a water-soluble extracellular β-glucan, is suitable for preparing hydrogels owing to its good physicochemical and biological properties. Semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) technology and ultraviolet (UV) light crosslinking mechanisms were combined to create composite hydrogels based on salecan/poly (2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate-co-N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide) network and niobium carbide (NbC) nanoparticles. FT-IR characterization confirmed the formation of the semi-IPN structure. XRD diffraction peaks corresponding to NbC was clearly observed in the patterns of the photocrosslinked composite hydrogels. In particular, the results obtained from compression tests and thermal analysis demonstrated that introduction of NbC nanoparticles into the network matrix enhanced mechanical strength and thermal stability due to the structural reinforcement of the composite hydrogels. In addition, the morphology and swelling of the hydrogels could be well tuned by controlling salecan content. Cytotoxicity test followed by Live/Dead cell viability assay demonstrated that these composite hydrogels had excellent cytocompatibility, showing their potential as cell adhesion materials.